Shivkumar, Rasool star with all-round efforts

Services captain Soumik Chatterjee scored a century to give his team the first-innings lead against Kerala in Delhi. Chatterjee, who opened the innings and batted 313 deliveries for 107, was supported by useful contributions from the rest of Services batsmen, most notably Yashpal Singh, who made 89.

The fight for the first-innings lead had got tense at one stage, when Services were 264 for 5 as Chatterjee fell, but the lower-order batsmen secured a 21-run advantage. Sandeep Warrier took 4 for 86 in his second first-class game for Kerala. The visitors were 9 for 0 at stumps, trailing Services by 12 runs.

A day after scoring his maiden first-class century to lead Andhra to a commanding total, Duvvarapu Shivkumar claimed his first five-wicket haul to take his team to the verge of securing a significant first-innings lead. Shivkumar's 6 for 41 reduced Goa to 285 for 9, still behind Andhra by 108 runs.

The third day in Visakhapatnam began with Goa on 72 for 1, and they lost Sagun Kamat after only one run was scored. Thereafter, Goa had only one substantial stand - 90 between Ravikant Shukla and Reagan Pinto for the fifth wicket. Shukla ended the day unbeaten on 84 but watched Shivkumar cut through his team-mates at the other end. Goa scored only 213 runs in the day.

Centuries from Ian Dev Singh and Parvez Rasool built Jammu & Kashmir a huge lead on the third day in Guwahati, and three early wickets in Assam's improbable chase gave the visitors a good chance of an outright victory.

J&K began the third morning on 1 for 0, with a lead of 159. Ian Dev went on to make 118, and Rasool continued his excellent match by hammering an unbeaten 120 off 106 deliveries. He had made 67 in J&K's first innings and also taken 7 for 41 to dismiss Assam for 165. J&K scored 318 for 5 before declaring, setting Assam a target of 476.

Ram Dayal struck two blows with the new ball for J&K before Assam had even scored, and Ian Dev picked up a third wicket. Assam go into the final day with seven wickets in hand to try and prevent an outright defeat.

Himachal Pradesh resumed their first innings on 111 for 5 on the second morning and were dismissed for 260, 181 runs behind Tripura. Manisankar Murasingh and Ranadutta finished with four wickets each.

In their second innings, Tripura lost their first four wickets for 13 runs but Abbas Ali steadied the innings with a half-century. By stumps they were ahead by 297 with five wickets in hand. An early declaration on the final day could give Tripura enough time to press for an outright win.